E241 



RATION 



DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION OF THE 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS, 



19TH AUGUST, 1882, 



JOHN MASON BROWN. 



Published under the auspices of the Kentucky Historical Society. 



FRANKFORT, KY.: 
PRINTED AT THE KENTUCKY YEOMAN OFFICE. 

MAJOR, JOHNSTON & BARRETT. 

1882. 



T ulu 




PL jPostej et .Forty < 

Jburets safe&r et Palmes 
fife. Fifes, 



AN ORATION: 



DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION OF THE 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS, 



19 TH AUGUST, 1882, 




Published under the auspices of the Kentucky Historical Society. 



FRANKFORT, KY.: 

-PRINTED A7 THE KENTUCKY YEOMAN OFFICE. 

MAJOR, JOHNSTON & BARRETT. 

L882. 



ORATION. 



The sod which we this day tread is one consecrated by 
memories of an heroic race. The occasion which calls us 
together is one which arouses the liveliest sentiments of an 
honorable pride, and freshens every glow of a just patriot- 
ism. For here it was that, in the midst of disaster and 
death, the hardy race of Kentucky pioneers achieved results 
greater than have followed many a triumph. Here it was 
that fell, in one short hour of a summer's day, a pall of 
desolation that darkened every fireside throughout the 
West ; and here it was that out of the nettle of an over- 
powering danger was plucked the flower of the safety and 
prosperity of our Commonwealth. It was here that were 
most conspicuously shown all the traits of the Kentucky 
pioneer; his rash daring in assault, his devotion in danger, 
his unfaltering self-reliance in adversity, his endurance, his 
courage, his resolute persistence of purpose, his firm belief 
that he was the ordained precursor of a new Nation that 
was to possess the mighty West, and people with a teeming 
and hardy race the illimitable plains beyond the Allegha- 
nies. And here, too, was proved how the rugged virtues- of 
a frontier life go hand in hand with the tenderest of human 
sympathies ; how the devotion of comrade to comrade, of 
friend to friend, lightened the horrors of a savage massacre 
with examples of pathetic heroism. 

We meet, as descendants of the pioneers, to found a 
monument to their memory. Our mission this day is to 
recall the deeds of those who, a century since, fought on 
this, spot a bloody battle with a savage foe, and tested and 
proved the problem of Indian warfare in Kentucky. With- 
in the memory of living men, the latest survivors of that 



4 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



memorable day have gone down in venerable old age to 
honored graves. The rush of hurrying events is fast bear- 
ing away the traditions of those olden times, and dumb 
forgetfulness threatens the memory of their adventurous 
bravery. It is fitting that we pause to commemorate and 
do homage to the founders of our State. 

From the time when John Finley, in 1767, crossing the 
Cumberland from North Carolina, penetrated to the valley 
of Elkhorn and the Kentucky river, and, returning, told of 
the hunters' paradise he had found beyond the mountains, 
the romantic story takes its beginning. Who he was, and 
who were the two or three that bore him company in his 
adventure, we shall never know. No history of them has 
been written, nor has tradition preserved more than the 
mere name of Finley. But in no assembly of our people 
should his name be mentioned save with honor; for he 
made the double discovery of the country of Kentucky and 
of Daniel Boone, its pioneer. 

The story which Finley told of his expedition into the 
new country was listened to with eager ears by the advent- 
urous men, who, like himself, had already pushed their 
habitations far into the solitudes of Western North Caro- 
lina. 

The spring of 1769 saw him returning to his new-found 
hunting grounds, and with him the five companions whom 
every historian of our State must record as the advance 
guard of Kentucky. They were, with the single exception 
of Boone, obscure men, whose past experience was of the 
rudest life, and to whom no dream of ambition or thought 
of fame was known. They filled their appointed place in 
the great drama that was preparing, and passed into oblivion 
with the shifting of its first scene. 

John Stuart, Joseph Holden, James Mooney, and Wil- 
liam Cool, with Finley and Boone, were the first that ever 
burst into the unknown West. 

It is much to be regretted that Boone, in the brief narra- 
tive which he dictated to Filson, did not identify more 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



5 



closely the spot — as he so accurately fixed the time — where 
the little band first saw the glorious panorama of Central 
Kentucky. 

"On the 7th June (so runs Boone's narrative), after trav- 
eling through a mountainous wilderness, in a western direc- 
tion, we found ourselves on Red river, where John Finley 
had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from the 
top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful level of 
Kentucke." 

A number of considerations, as well topographical as his- 
torical, seem to warrant the opinion that the spot whence 
Boone and his companions had this memorable first view of 
their promised land, must have been in the near vicinity of 
the Indian Old Fields, eastward of the town of Winchester, 
and on the waters of Lulbegrud. creek. 

Finley had traded in some small fashion with the Indians, 
as we learn from Boone, and doubtless conducted his little 
party to the localities which he had before best known. 
The Shawnees alone, of all the Indian tribes, had attempted 
a permanent settlement in Kentucky, and had as late as 
1750, perhaps later, occupied a town on the Lulbegrud. 
The subsequent return of Boone to that vicinity, and the 
ready explanation which the topography of the country 
gives of his ultimate explorations along the water-courses, 
and settlement at Boonesborough, seems to confirm the 
conjecture.* 

But the office of Finley and Holden and Mooney and 
Cool and Stuart was, as has been remarked, only to intro- 
duce to his new empire the prince of pioneers. 

On the 22d of December Boone and Stuart were cap- 
tured by Indians, and escaped a few days later, only to find, 
on returning to their former haunts, that their comrades 
were gone and the camp destroyed. 

The lonely survivors were cheered, however, by the ap- 
pearance of Squire Boone, who had with a single compan- 
ion followed his brother into the wilderness, and, by mere 



* See Note A. 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



chance, discovered his camp. But Stuart was soon after 
killed by the Indians, and the stranger abandoned them ; so 
that the brothers Boone spent the winter of 1769-70 to- 
gether — the only whites within Kentucky — an isolation 
only to be made absolute by the return of Squire Boone 
to North Carolina in May, 1770. The pioneer was left 
alone " without bread, salt, or sugar, or even a horse or 
dog." 

It was from such a small beginning that our Common- 
wealth has arisen. The fortitude, the intelligent courage, 
the enthusiasm of one man, was the nucleus about which 
, rapidly gathered an adventurous emigration from the older 
States. 

The story of the first settlement of Kentucky has been 
more than once well told. The comprehensive scheme of 
Henderson and the Transylvania Company, the far-reach- 
ing policy of George Rogers Clark, and his masterly 
plans, both civil and military, the development of a constant 
habit of individual and independent adventure, combined 
with military organization and a system of rapid and effi- 
cient mutual support, have been commemorated by able 
pens. The picturesque narrative of those years, when dan- 
ger and death were ever about the pioneer, when every 
cabin was known as a fort or station and every man was 
a combatant, has been perpetuated in the eloquence of 
Morehead, in the graphic sketches of McClung, and in 
the faithful, historic labors of the elder and the younger 
Collins. Marshall and Butler have recorded it in sub- 
stantial agreement, for no ungenerous envy has distorted 
the merit of the pioneer, or sought to lessen the applause 
of his daring and endurance. 

This is not the occasion for rehearsing the continuous 
march in population and strength of the infant settlements 
established by Boone and his comrades. The brief space 
of an address such as this is inadequate for the recounting 
of the long list of heroic acts that make up that early pe- 
riod of our history. Time would fail to tell how Kenton, 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



7 



Bryant, McConnell, Logan, Floyd, and others, and most 
of all, the ever active and vigilant Boone, sustained the 
never-ceasing contest. 

It need only be noted that the tide of immigration seemed 
definitely established in 1775, and from that time the increase 
of settlements or "stations" gave mutual support among 
the pioneers, and inspired a growing confidence in their 
ability to maintain an occupancy of the coveted territory. 

The spring of the year 1782 opened upon what, indeed, 
seemed an era of prosperity and security for the West. 
The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in the preceding 
autumn had ended the War of Independence. Peace with 
England brought with it a recognized American title to the 
great Northwest as far as the lakes and beyond Detroit. 
The splendid dream of Clark, which none but Jefferson 
seemed fully to comprehend, was fulfilled in the cession of 
an empire. Strong men had come in numbers to seek for- 
tune and adventure in the brakes and forests of Kentucky. 
Brave women encountered the hardships of the frontier, 
and followed husbands and fathers into the wilderness. 
Families had been established, and children had been born 
to the pioneers. Already was cradled the generation of 
Kentucky riflemen destined to crush, in after years, the 
great confederation of Tecumseh, and to assure the north- 
ern boundary of the Union. 

The log cabin which James Harrod built in 1774 — first 
of log cabins in the wilderness of Kentucky — no longer 
stood solitary in the West. Around it others had risen, 
and the hamlet of Harrodsburg been formed. At that 
place formal territorial councils had been held, and resolu- 
tions of supreme public importance been taken. * Louis- 
ville had begun to rise, and a village to cluster at the Falls 
of the Ohio. Lexington had been named and settled, pro- 
tected in its infant growth by the stations which Todd on 
the one side, and Bryant in another quarter, had for several 

♦See Note B. 



8 



centennial: commemoration of the 



years maintained. Stout Ben. Logan held St. Asaph Sta- 
tion, near the present town of Stanford, and towards the 
North and East, on the southern tributaries of the Licking, 
lay Martin's and Ruddle's Stations, advanced posts watch- 
ing the incursions of the Mingoes, the Shawnees, the Dela- 
wares, and the Wyandots, who dwelt beyond the Ohio. A 
growing sense of security prevailed. 

Commerce, too, then plumed her wing for a more daring 
flight than two centuries had known. Filled with the in- 
spiration of those brave days, Jacob Yoder, in May, 1782, 
built at Fort Redstone, on the Monongahela, a large flat- 
boat, and loading it with produce, and manning it with a 
picked crew, he, first of all, carried commerce down the 
broad highway of the Ohio and the Mississippi to the 
Spanish forts at New Orleans. The return of the advent- 
urers was by way of Havana and Philadelphia, and thence 
through Fort Pitt to the Falls of the Ohio, and thus was 
the trade of the South and West opened — by a veritable 
circumnavigation. 

But if the pioneers, worn with the toils of unceasing 
warfare, and harassed by the continued incursions of their 
Indian foe, hailed with grateful hope this early dawn of the 
coming day of civilization and peace, a far different feeling 
agitated the breasts of their old enemies. 

The peace with England ended the subsidies and material 
support that had given organized vigor to the Indian war. 
There were no longer at Detroit or elsewhere along the 
border men who, disgracing the uniform of a gallant army, 
and remote from the control of civilized opinion, incited the 
barbarities of savage war, and openly paid in British goods 
for the scalps of Americans. 

Thirty years were to go by before Proctor should aban- 
don his prisoners of war to a savage massacre, and Elliott 
permit the murder of the gallant Hart, whose hospitality 
he had received while himself a prisoner of war in Ken- 
tucky. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



9 



The withdrawal of English aid brought serious reflection 
and well founded alarm to the abler men of the principal 
Indian tribes. The fear seemed to them a just one that the 
pioneers who had, in smaller numbers, and against unex- 
ampled discouragements, withstood the Indians, armed and 
equipped by British aid, would now find it but a light task 
to wrest from their Indian foes all that they might want of 
the lands of the Northwest. It was the sad presage of 
Capt. Pipe (Hopocan), the war chief of the Delawares, that 
when the whites ceased their wars the Indians would be 
abandoned to an inevitable destruction.* This apprehen- 
sion was shared by all the most sagacious and influential of 
his race, and prepared them for concerted and desperate 
action. 

But most potent, perhaps, of all the immediate causes 
that led to the attack on the Kentucky settlements in 1782, 
and to the battle of the Blue Licks, was the malignant 
activity of the renegade Simon Girty. 

The atrocities attributed to Girty, or immediately asso- 
ciated with his name, exceed the horrors of even savage 
barbarity. To his bloody imagination the tomahawk and 
scalping-knife were but the toys of war, and the slaughter 
of captives, without distinction of age or sex, the merest 
matter of course. His delight was in the prolonged torture 
of his victims, and he seemed to enjoy a double pleasure 
in the exquisite torment of the sufferer, and the frenzied 
cruelty of the Indians, whom he knew only too well how to 
excite. 

His rude and bold nature had received a sinister educa- 
tion, and he seemed marked from his infancy to be the 
scourge of the frontier. 

Simon Girty was one of four sons of an Irish emigrant 
settled in Pennsylvania — a vicious and drunken wretch, who 
was killed by his wife's paramour. The four boys were 
captured in early childhood by a war party, and three of 

* The speech of Captain Pipe at the Council House, in Detroit, is given 
by Drake, Biog. and Hist, of Indians, book V, page 66, 7th edition. 



10 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



them permanently adopted an Indian life.* George be- 
came a Delaware, and continued with them until his death. 
He is said, on the authority of one well informed, to have 
lost every trait and habit that marks the white man, and 
to have become an absolute savage. His fidelity to his 
adopted people never wavered; indeed, he knew no other 
kindred, and he surpassed the native Indian in that skill and 
•cunning which is peculiarly his own. He appears to have 
been very brave, and to have fought the whites with skill 
and distinction at the Kanawha, at Sandusky, and at the 
Blue Licks. Tradition has rated him as a mere Indian, and 
he has escaped the execration that attaches to his brother's 
name. 

James Girty was adopted by the Shawnees. He passed 
in his earlier life repeatedly between the camp and war path 
of the Indian and the frontier rendezvous of most aban- 
doned whites. He imbibed all the worst vices of both races, 
and exaggerated them in the fury of an unbridled lust for 
carnage. His delight was to devise new and lingering tor- 
tures for captives, and to superintend their application. 

Even after disease had] destroyed his power of walking, 
he would cause captive women and children to be forced 
within his reach that he might hew them with his toma- 
hawk. His life stands unrelieved by a single good deed or 
a single savage virtue. Once he pretended to warn some 
whites against an impending attack, but it seems probable 
that some cunning design was hidden behind it. It may be, 
as some have insisted, that much of the infamy that has 
been accorded Simon Girty belongs properly to his brother 
James. If it were possible to test the traditions which have 
come down to us, perhaps an impartial judgment might 
absolve the more famous renegade from many a crime that 
has been laid to his charge. For Simon Girty showed 
intellectual qualities, and at times was kindly beyond his 
brothers or the other renegade whites. He remembered 



* Perkins, Western Annals, 170-1, note. Campbell, Biog. Sketches, 
-147- 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



11 



Kenton as an ancient friend, and saved his life. In other 
instances he showed an almost pity. But it was in each 
case, in his earlier life as a warrior, and before the year 
1778. 

Simon Girty became in his childhood a Seneca Indian. 
They were his people and his friends. Though he wan- 
dered back at intervals to the verge of the white settle- 
ments, and was even for a brief time Kenton's comrade as 
a spy for Lord Dunmore's expedition, he returned again to 
his Indian life. His hatred of the whites seemed to be in- 
tensified when the Indian tribes took up the hatchet as allies 
of England, and after 1778 he carried on an unrelenting 
war. For such a man, stained with so many cruelties, ab- 
horred and dreaded throughout the frontier, to return to his 
race, or hope to live within the pale of civilization, was im- 
possible. 

The peace with Great Britain left Girty no choice but 
that of the Indian life, so congenial to -him, no occupation 
but that of war to the death. Other whites, too, had, like 
Girty, become identified with the Indians, and had shared 
in their barbarities. Elliott and McKee, who had traded 
with the Shawnees, cast their fortunes with Girty, and, like 
him, devoted every energy to stirring up the Indians to war. 

There were, therefore, abundant reasons why the year 
1782 should have been signalized by a mighty effort against 
the Kentucky settlements. As has been seen, the leading 
Indians looked with dismay to their future ; the renegade 
whites were desperate. 

But, as often happens when affairs are ripe for great 
events, an occasion for revenge, and an argument for a 
great expedition, was furnished to the hands of Girty and 
his allies. 

During the preceding year an expedition of retaliation 
against the Wyandots had marched from the Pennsylvania 
frontier. It was followed in the early spring of 1782 by 
one under command of Williamson, who chose to think 



12 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



that the Christian Indians upon the Sandusky, where the 
Moravian Mission had been established, were participants 
in the Wyandots' forays. With a barbarity that might 
have shamed Girty, he caused forty men, twenty women, 
and thirty-four children, whom he had captured, to be mur- 
dered in cold blood. The awful deed was perpetrated with 
a formal deliberation that lent a more revolting horror to 
the tragedy. Williamson and his ninety men took a sol- 
emn vote, and but sixteen favored mercy.* The prisoners 
had been captured as they gleaned the poor remnants of 
their ravaged fields, planted under their missionaries' care, 
and cultivated as part of their education into a civilized 
life. And there they were murdered, "all of them" (as 
the saintly Heckewelder tells us) " defenseless and inno- 
cent fellow-Christians. "f 

The awful crime of Williamson and his party, far from 
exciting horror, roused only a frenzy of impatience to com- 
plete the work of extermination. Another expedition was 
at once organized against the towns of the Moravian Dela- 
wares and Wyandots upon the Sandusky. It rendezvoused 
not far from Fort Pitt on the 20th May, and was commanded 
by Col. Wm. Crawford, the former trusted agent of Wash- 
ington. Nearly five hundred men took part in it, all well 
armed and mounted; and the purpose of the march was 
ostentatiously declared: " No Indian was to be spared, friend 
or foe ; every red man zvas to die" 

The Indian chiefs, and Girty and his fellows, found a 
ready response to their cry for resistance and revenge. So 
well were their measures taken that they killed and captured 
the greater part of Crawford's command. Williamson, 
the murderer of the Moravians, escaped, deserting home- 
ward before the crisis of the expedition. The torture of 
Crawford, and his death at the stake, the fiendish laughter 
of Girty as he witnessed his agony and denied the wretched 

*A full and most pathetic account of Williamson's massacre will be 
found in Doddridge, Settlement and Indian Wars, 250, 251. 

t Heckewelder's Narrative, 312, 328. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



13 



sufferer's prayer for speedy death, have come down to us in 
the narrative of an eye-witness. The dreadful story need 
not be here repeated. The fortitude of the dying soldier 
was as conspicuous as were his agonies prolonged and acute. 
He died bravely, and the story of his death is one of the 
most familiar examples of Indian barbarity.* 

Let us, however, now that a century has elapsed since that 
dark deed was done, recognize how great was the provoca- 
tion that inspired Captain Pipe and his Indians. It was 
retaliation by extermination and torture on the part of the 
rude savage, who knew no other code, against Crawford's 
open boast that he came to destroy friend and foe alike. 

We may well feel a pride in the fact that, although the 
brunt of Indian vengeance was borne by Kentucky, though 
her best blood paid the penalty of Williamson's crime and 
Crawford's error, no Kentuckian had lot or part in either. 
Neither expedition was suggested, organized, or promoted 
in any respect by the Kentucky settlers. 

In all the chronicles of those long years, from Finley's 
iirst journey in 1767 to the end of the Indian wars at the 
battle of the Thames in 1813, no instance (save McGary's 
murder of Moluntha) occurs where Kentuckians met the 
foe on other than equal terms and in fair fight. Hundreds 
•of instances attest their equal readiness for single combat or 
contest of numbers, and almost every encounter brought 
death to the pioneer or his foe; but the escutcheon of Ken- 
tucky has never been tarnished with the blot of cruelty, nor 
her lofty courage soiled by massacre of the defenseless, or 
by indignity to prisoners of war. 

The excitement of Crawford's expedition, and the exul- 
tation that followed his defeat, enabled Girty and the chiefs 
to arrange with celerity and secrecy for a formidable incur- 
sion into Kentucky. The warriors were flushed with victory 
and mad with hate. An army of whites had already "been 
•destroyed, and the prestige of the Indian name restored by 

* See Note C. 



U CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



a victory in the open field, over a well equipped force, com- 
manded by a veteran and trusted officer. An achievement 
had crowned the Indian arms greater than the victory over 
Braddock or the successes of Pontiac and his allies. Here- 
tofore ambuscade and surprise had been their reliance. 
Crawford's defeat and capture had shown that the Indian 
could defend his own country with equal numbers in the 
open field. The dream of Pontiac seemed realized; the 
confederation which he had labored to organize seemed now 
accomplished, and its mission at hand. The warriors of all 
that broad territory that stretched from the Ohio to the 
lakes, and extended from the Wabash on the west to Fort 
Pitt and the Alleghany river on the east, were united in 
counsel and in hope. The concerted action of the ablest 
chiefs gave direction to a universal impatience for a march 
in attack. The great league which Pontiac had once before 
formed, and which, in after years, was to be revived by 
Tecumseh, in the death-struggle of the Indian power, was 
consolidated and ready for immediate action. No oppor- 
tunity ever presented itself to the Indian at once so full of 
hope and so stimulating to his patriotism. 

The chiefs, in passionate language, called for a march that 
was to recover their old hunting grounds, and at the same 
time secure themselves from invasion. 

If the continued settlement of Kentucky were to be al- 
lowed without resistance, the fate of the Northwest was 
only too plain ; but could the victorious league sweep from 
the soil of Kentucky the scattered occupants that in seven 
years' time had dotted its isolated center, and exterminate 
the pioneers as Crawford had been defeated, then would 
the West be indeed regained, and the Alleghanies become 
once more the bound to the white man's intrusion, and the 
bulwark of the Indian's security. 

It was a large and bold design that inspired the able chiefs 
of the confederated tribes. Their purpose was to regain 
Kentucky, and to hold the entire West from the Gulf north- 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



15' 



ward to the lakes ; and that purpose must have succeeded 
but for the men whose bones lie buried here. 

The time for the decisive struggle was at hand. The 
opportunity was one which years might not again present. 
The fate of the West was to be tried. Conscious of the 
gravity of the enterprise, and fully competent for its organi- 
zation and conduct, the war chiefs of the tribes omitted no 
precautions, nor indulged any delays. Runners were sent 
out to the tribes to summon all who were willing to join in 
the great expedition that was to crush the Kentuckians, 
and yield a rich booty of scalps and plunder. By the 1st 
of August the gathering began at the old town of Chilli- 
cothe. The response to Girty's call was prompt and gen- 
eral. The Shawnees, Cherokees, Wyandots, Miami's, and' 
Pottawattamies combined to swell the invading force, and 
in a few days more than five hundred warriors were on the 
march for Kentucky. 

It does not appear what was Girty's organization of his 
force, or who were his Lieutenants, but the conduct of 
the fight a few days later showed a discipline and control 
remarkable in such a sudden levy, drawn from so many 
different tribes. He was able to enforce such secrecy and 
rapidity of movement that no warning of his march pre- 
ceded him ; and what is stranger still, had the power to 
restrain his men until the decisive moment of his murder- 
ous attack. It is to be presumed that McKee and Elliott 
were in the expedition. With a refinement of cruelty, the 
Kentuckians, captured two years before at Ruddle's and 
Martin's Stations, and who owed their lives to the interfer- 
ence of Col. Byrd, were forced to accompany the march ? . 
and witness the death of friends and kindred. They were 
spectators of miseries which they could not avert, and after 
an unwilling participation in the campaign, were returned; 
to their captivity.* 



* Collins, vol. 2, page 327. 



16 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



The march of Girty and his Indians took Kentucky by 
surprise. Not a note of warning had been given. A less 
adroit enemy might well have succeeded in escaping detec- 
tion, for not a settlement was in existence in all the territory 
north and east of the South Fork of the Licking. From 
the mouth of the Licking to Louisville, and as far south- 
ward as Leestown, a station on the Kentucky river one mile 
below the present site of Frankfort, not a single inhabitant 
was to be found. The pioneers had clustered, as has been 
already observed, in localities that lay within a radius of 
mutual immediate assistance. By a kind of natural selec- 
tion, the first Kentuckians took and held the " Blue-grass." 
The law of heredity seems to continue that preference in 
their descendants.* 

Girty, descending the Little Miami with his force, crossed 
the Ohio unobserved, and hastened along the war trace 
made by Byrd two years before, into Central Kentucky. 
Leaving it, however, as seems probable, near Mill creek, in 
what is now Harrison county, he passed rapidly to the west 
and south of Ruddle's Station, skirting the western banks 
of Stoner and Cooper's Run, through Bourbon county, and 
following the ridge which divides the waters of North Elk- 
horn from those tributary to the South Fork of the Licking, 
suddenly appeared before Bryant's Station. It was on the 
night of the 14th of August that Girty, with his nearly six 
hundred Indians, surrounded the station. Within its stock- 
ade were forty cabins, and, by rarest good fortune, every 
man of its garrison, of about sixty effective riflemen, was 
fully prepared for immediate duty. Lexington, also, where 
forty-four men could be mustered, was in like state of prepa- 
ration. Girty's prime object was to destroy these two sta- 
tions, and exterminate their little garrisons. If that were 
accomplished, all Kentucky north of the Kentucky river 
was regained. The plan failed only because of his own too 
great promptitude. 

*The first allusion to Blue Grass, or English Grass (as it is there called) 
• as a distinctive growth, will be found in the proof quoted in the case of 
Darnall vs . Higgins, Hardin's Reports, page 52. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



17 



In order to draw the small companies of defenders from 
the protection of their stockades, Girty detached a party of 
Wyandots, who rapidly pushed on to Hoy's Station, on the 
south side of the Kentucky river, in what is now Madison 
county, a few hundred yards from the site of the village of 
Foxtown. They so timed their march that on the ioth of 
August they committed some depredations there, and cap- 
tured two boys, retreating in no great haste eastward and 
•across the Kentucky river. Captain Holder, with a few 
men, pursued, and augmenting his force by small additions 
at McGee's and Strode's Stations, continued to follow the 
retreating Wyandots, sending the alarm in the meantime to 
Bryant's Station and Lexington. Holder came up with the 
enemy at the Upper Blue Licks on the 12th of August, and 
was forced to retreat with loss. At the news of his defeat, 
which was received at Bryant's Station on the 14th, it was 
resolved to march at day-break on the morrow to relieve 
Hoy's Station and assist Holder. » 

Girty had expected that the news would have been re- 
ceived, and the march made on the 14th, and for that rea- 
son, when he surrounded the station, he thought to have 
the double advantage of an easy capture of the station and 
the non-combatants, and of cutting off its garrison in the 
open country. 

Had Girty's arrival been delayed but a few hours, his 
expectation would have been realized. For when, long 
-after -midnight, he surrounded the station, a busy activity 
was to be noted within the fort. Lights still burned, and 
fires glowed in every cabin, though the heat of midsummer 
was oppressive. The real cause of this unusual and unex- 
pected wakefulness was the intended march of the men at 
the coming of dawn. The women were industriously re- 
pairing moccasins and cooking rations for their husbands and 
brothers. The men were moulding bullets and putting in 
•complete order their trusty rifles. Not a soul within the 
2 



18 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



fort dreamed that six hundred Indians already lay around' 
them and within gunshot. 

But Girty mistook the cause of the activity within the 
stockade. He supposed that his approach had been discov- 
ered, and that the note of preparation which he heard was 
the prelude of a desperate resistance by the garrison. He 
concluded that his chief plan was foiled, and relinquished 
the hope of surprising the unarmed station, and afterwards 
destroying its men in the open country. He concluded to 
attack the fort defended as it was. It is very likely, too, 
that Girty would have found it impossible to conceal any 
longer his presence, or, in the difficulties which the dark- 
ness and the motley character of his force presented, to 
have made a new plan for the approaching dawn. He 
therefore disposed his force so as to seize, if possible, the 
gates of the stockade with one party, while another was to 
provoke a sally. 

The coming dawn found Girty's preparations all com- 
pleted, and those within the station yet ignorant of their 
imminent peril. The gates were opened and the well pre- 
pared pioneers started on their march. Fortunately for them,, 
Girty's orders were only too well obeyed. A heavy fire 
was opened upon them. Ten minutes more of delay would, 
have secured for Girty his grand opportunity. But the 
alarm had been given, and the weight of the volley betok- 
ened the number of the assailants. The Kentuckians fell 
back instantly within their defenses, and all hope of surprise 
was lost to the Indian army. Bryant's Station, if taken at 
all, was to be captured by assault and desperate fighting. 

There were men within the station whose long experi- 
ence of a frontier life fitted them for the emergency. Elijah 
Craig was in command, and with him Robert and Cave. 
Johnson and others — well tried men. Though they were 
but sixty opposed to six hundred, no thought of anything 
but energetic fight was entertained. The little garrison was- 
distributed along the stockade. The very -children con- 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



19' 



tributed to the defense, and while their mothers moulded 
bullets which their fathers shot at the foe, they busied them- 
selves in extinguishing the flames lighted by fire arrows 
from the Indian camp ; and, stimulated by the general dis- 
play of courage, went from place to place with their buckets 1 
and gourds, playing their parts as became their parentage. 
Such, at five years of age, was the first lesson and service 
in war of William Johnson, who was afterwards to save 
Harrison and the western army by his relief of Fort Meigs, 
and to die — too early — from the exposure of the campaign 
of the Maumee. 

And such was the lullaby of that youngest infant there, 
who was in after years to share in large measure the honors 
of his State and Nation, but whose proudest distinction it 
was that Richakd M. Johnson commanded, in the final 
battle of the Indian wars, that regiment of Kentucky rifle- 
men before whom the noble Tecumseh and the renegade 
Girty fell. 

Bold and swift messengers were needed to carry the 
alarm through the Indian lines to Lexington and the other 
settlements. Tomlinson and Bell were the gallant men 
who undertook and performed the perilous task. 

Craig, with much sagacity, penetrated Giriy's tactics, 
and turned upon him a feint by which he had hoped to 
carry the station gate. The fortunate preparation, made, 
as has been shown, for an entirely different purpose, enabled 
the defenders to maintain themselves, and to keep up their 
well directed fire. 

By noon Lexington had been aroused, and every available 
man summoned to the relief. Some on foot, some mounted,, 
they hurried to save their besieged friends, and by two 
o'clock in the afternoon, led by the gallant John Todd, col- 
onel of the county, some fifty men reached Bryant's Station. 
Six of their number were killed or wounded in the .dash 
that they made through the Indian lines ; but they gained 
the fort, and from that moment its capture by assault was 
impossible. 



20 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



Girty well knew that he was foiled. He and his Indian 
lieutenants had exhibited soldiership and conduct. His 
first and chief plan had been frustrated by an error of judg- 
ment which should rather increase than detract from an esti- 
mate of his capacity. With perfect promptness, and under 
greatest difficulties, a new plan had been formed, that must 
have succeeded could every Indian rifle have been kept 
silent for a brief space. Now it was necessary to devise 
still another, and, if possible, a bolder stroke, and to achieve 
in the open field what his best laid plans against the stations 
had failed to accomplish. 

The news sent out from Bryant's Station on the morning 
of the 15th of August had not stopped at Lexington or 
Todd's Station. It flew like the summons of the fiery cross 
throughout the settlements. By nightfall Boone received 
the tidings at Boonesboro, and at early dawn was in motion 
with all his little force. With him in this, which was to be 
the old pioneer's last of all of his fights, went his youngest 
boy — his Israel — destined to death in the coming battle, 
the father's last sacrifice on yonder mountain in the cause 
to which he had so devoted himself. Trigg, too, came up 
in haste from Harrodsburg, bringing with him Harlan and 
McGary, and the men from across the Kentucky. 

Logan was warned at St. Asaph, and with all possible 
rapidity collected such as could be drawn from the remoter 
settlements. The word had gone out that every fighting 
man was needed. The response to the call was instant and 
unanimous. 

During the 17th, Boone and Trigg, Harlan and McBride 
and McGary, and their men, had reached Bryant's Station. 
Enough men had hurried thither to swell the number to 
what the better account, on the authority of Boone, fixes at 
one hundred and eighty-one riflemen. Their rendezvous 
was not obstructed by the Indians. With a deep and subtle 
purpose Girty permitted them to pass unattacked into the 
station. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



21 



The knowledge that the country was aroused had induced 
Girty to attempt a shallow device. After recovering from 
the stunning effect of a rifle-ball that struck his bullet pouch 
and stretched him for a time apparently dead, he had tried 
to persuade the garrison (already re-enforced from Lexing- 
ton) to surrender, and rely on his mercy and honor. The 
resolute reply of young Aaron Reynolds and its rough 
scorn has been preserved by all who have written of those 
times.* 

The Indian chiefs were dispirited by the failure of the 
expedition, and insisted on a retreat, before the arrival of 
larger numbers should make retreat too dangerous. The 
prompt response already shown warned them that the settle- 
ments would send in all their best men, and they felt how 
hazardous their position might become. 

Girty yielded reluctantly, or with assumed reluctance, 
to the demand for retreat, and seige was raised on the 
17th in the forenoon. f Camp fires were left burning, and 
pieces of meat were upon the roasting-sticks. The retreat 
was ostentatious, and it was supposed that the Indians were 
in full march for their towns beyond the Ohio. 

The remainder of the day was spent by the Kentuckians 
in assuring themselves that the retreat was genuine and not 
a mere pretense, and in deliberation as to the advisability of 
immediate pursuit. 

It does not appear that there was any serious diversity of 
opinion among the chiefs of the Kentuckians. A very large 
proportion of those present bore commissions in the militia, 
and the militia of Kentucky at that time was a body con- 
stantly employed on serious duty. The haste of the sum- 
mons, the urgency of the danger, and the determined purpose 
of them all, made the question of military rank the least 
important of their considerations. In the companies that 
were extemporized, Captains and Lieutenants took places in 

*See Note D. 

t Boone's letter of 30th August, 1782, to the Governor of Virginia. 



22 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 

the ranks without quibble or contention. It would seem 
likely, too, considering the smallness of the force, and its 
composition of citizen soldiery, that the interchange of opin- 
ion was general and free. There were few present whose 
experience of frontier life did not warrant their joining in 
the discussion. The pursuit was resolved on, and the march 
commenced. 

Following the well-defined trace south of and not far from 
the present turnpike road that connects Lexington with 
Paris and Maysville, the pursuers crossed David's Fork and 
the dividing ridge ; thence down Houston creek and along 
its north bank, the route lay until at a point near the present 
village of Houston, in Bourbon county, it forms one with 
the great main road reaching northeastward. 

The evidences of the Indians' sudden retreat were numer- 
ous and seemed conclusive. In the abandoned camp the 
fires were left burning and 1 cooked meat untasted. The 
trail was compact, as though the entire force had been called 
in to march off in a body. It was not a great while before 
the line of the Indian retreat was certainly ascertained, and 
it become clear that, instead of turning northward at some 
point near the present town of Paris and pushing by the 
shortest road, past where now are built Cynthiana and Fal- 
mouth, for the mouth of the Little Miami and the Pickaway 
towns, the Indians were moving along the main trace towards 
the Lower Blue Licks. They were following the straight 
path that the unerring instinct of the buffalo indicated to 
our engineers as the route for a great thoroughfare. 

The night of the 1 8th brought renewed consultation, for 
Stoner's creek had been crossed near Martin's Station, three 
miles north of where Paris now is, and Hinkston forded 
near Millersburg, and the little army halted on the trail. 
The camp fires passed during the day, marking the place 
where the Indians had halted for the previous night, had 
been noted by the observant pioneers. Their number was 
few, and they were near together, giving ground for the in- 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



23 



ference that the Indians either felt confidence in their supe- 
rior numbers, and were inviting pursuit, or that they were 
guarding cautiously against an attack by the whites. The 
trees along the trace showed marks of the tomahawk, and 
this betokened a march free from hurry and trepidation. 
Perhaps, thought some of the pioneers, Girty does not 
know that he is followed, and it may be that by another 
day's rapid marching he can be surprised in his camp. Per- 
haps, thought they, he fancies the perilous country already 
passed, and the safe bank of the Ohio so near as to put 
him beyond reach. The able renegade had so well con- 
ducted his force that the most experienced pioneer could 
not divine that he meant an ambuscade and fight. 

It is easy to criticise, in the light of events, the conclu- 
sions of the pioneers and what may be termed the errors of 
their judgment. It can well be argued that had Girty been 
flying from pursuit he would not, perhaps, have taken the 
circuitous route he did, directing his homeward course by 
way of the crossing near Maysville and the Mingo towns on 
the Scioto, but would rather have retraced his steps to the 
mouth of the Little Miami. Yet it is not to be forgotten 
that the severest critics of warlike deeds are most often 
those who have never themselves set a squadron in the field, 
and so it has been in all the comments on Girty's march 
and Todd's pursuit. 

The men of middle age and of more advanced years who 
meet here this day in such numbers, joined again happily 
in fraternal regard and united in loyalty to our State and 
our Nation, can, with a juster view, scan that ancient scene, 
and from their own experience of war vindicate both pur- 
suers and pursued. Girty showed soldiership in retreating 
by a new route, for Clark, with a good force, was at the 
Falls of the Ohio, and might well take him in flank if he 
passed down to the mouth of the Licking. Boone and 
Todd were trained in Indian war — as indeed were all their 
comrades — and rightly interpreted the motive that controlled 



24 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



Girty. The pursuit up to the time of the battle was justi- 
fied by soundest considerations. 

The march, which had already traversed that lovely suc- 
cession of hill and dale, fairest of all fair views to the Ken- 
tuckian's eye, and had reached beyond the present county 
of Bourbon, was resumed with the coming dawn. 

It was Monday, the 19th of August, just one hundred 
years ago. 

As the morning advanced the speed of the pursuit was 
quickened, for many unerring signs betokened that the 
enemy could not be very far distant. Still all was order 
and circumspection, for the leaders were as prudent as they 
were brave, and every man was a veteran. The advance 
continued, still following the trace and the well-marked, 
route of the foe. Yet not an Indian was seen nor any 
preparation for resistance observed. Farther still the Ken- 
tuckians pressed on, vigilant against surprise and wary of 
ambuscade, and still the enemy were unreached. 

But as the column approached the Licking river the ad- 
vanced guard caught the first sight of Indians on the further 
bank. Girty had safely crossed the stream, and felt that 
he had the vantage ground, as well as superiority of num- 
bers. 

The Indians, when first seen, were leisurely ascending the 
rocky ridge that leads up from the river on its northern 
bank. They were but few. They paused, and seemed to 
regard the whites with indifference, and then disappeared 
over the crest of yonder hill. 

Time has not yet effaced the features that then marked 
this spot. For ages the grateful salt sulphur spring that 
gives it name had been the resort of countless buffaloes, 
whose sharp hoofs had worn away the soil and destroyed 
vegetation. The noble forest that crowned the surrounding 
scenery was there obliterated. The trace which the pursuers 
had followed, coming down to the stream by a narrow and 
difficult approach on the south bank, led up the bare accliv- 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



25 



ity on the other side, surmounting its crest where a narrow 
ridge gave passage way between two ravines that spread on 
either side, with easy sweep towards the stream. 

Here it was that the Indians chose their battle-field. A 
better choice could not have been made, whether the pur- 
pose were to resist an assault or lay an ambuscade. The 
warriors were carefully secreted within the dense shrubbery 
that filled the ravines, and there awaited the approach of 
the whites. 

The pioneers stopped on the southern bank for consulta- 
tion. It must be plain to all who will recall the circum- 
stances of the assembly and the march, and bear in mind 
that the whole country was aroused and in motion to re-en- 
force them, that the pioneers had but little cause to fear an 
attack. Their position was strong. Flanked by yonder 
difficult hills, and protected by the river in their front, they 
might well have counted on repelling assault and holding 
good their own until the coming up of their friends would 
enable them to take the aggressive. There was no cause 
or reason for retreat; but the question of advance was one 
of profound moment. 

Whose voice should have weight in such a crisis? Whose 
counsel should control or whose opinion govern? All eyes 
turned to the veteran, who, better than living man, knew 
the foe before them, and all listened with respectful atten- 
tion to the brief reply he gave when interrogated by Todd. 
His plan was simple. It was to await the arrival of Logan,. 
already on the march with more than two hundred men. 
With such a re-enforcement the Indians could be attacked 
and victory fairly expected. And when Logan should 
arrive, the old veteran further counseled that the attack be 
not made directly up the rocky point, but by flanking the 
hills and ravines, so obviously dangerous. 

Boone knew the locality perfectly well, for he had re- 
peatedly visited it, and four years before had been captured 
near the spot and led away a prisoner. He was entitled by 



26 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



every right to advise, and his advice met the approval of all 
the wiser and cooler men present. 

In all the remarkable traits which the unique character of 
Boone presents, none is more striking than his constant 
self-possession, and calm good sense in every emergency. 
No peril ever overcame his judgment; no disaster impaired 
his presence of mind. An unvarying tranquility gave force 
to his advice, as it so often secured success to his boldest 
undertakings. No man in our history has so singularly 
blended the constant pursuit of a hazardous life with a con- 
templative nature and a prudent habit of thought. Rash 
men sometimes affected to despise the caution of the wise 
old man, and once he was ungenerously charged with be- 
trayal of his friends. But the men who knew him best vin- 
dicated his fidelity no less than his sagacity and courage, 
and listened to him as the Nestor of the frontier. 

It is quite evident from the written accounts that have 
been prepared by various hands, and from the oral tradi- 
tions which still linger in families that draw their descent 
from the pioneers — those stories of the olden time now 
dwelling in the memories of aged men as their grandfathers 
told them years ago — that the better opinion coincided with 
Boone's counsel. 

Todd and Trigg and Harlan certainly wished to await 
Logan's arrival. The enemy had been brought to bay, as 
it seemed, and a decisive battle might.be fought, with every 
hope of success should the re-enforcements arrive. The con- 
current judgment of the four — Boone, Todd, Trigg, and 
Harlan — decided the question, for they were the superior 
officers, and, what was more important in such a command, 
it satisfied the rank and file that to wait was expedient and 
not inconsistent with the truest courage ; for the courage of 
each was proverbial, and the conduct of each had been 
proved in many ways, and amid many dangers. 

The name of Boone was the synonym for all adventure 
and bold caution. The others were worthy to be his com- 

* 

peers. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 27 

* 

Major Silas Harlan had come, in 1774, from Berkeley 
county, Virginia, and joined Harrod in his new settlement. 
He had been always active in the constant Indian warfare 
of the time, and had accompanied Clark in 1779 in the 
expedition against Vincennes, where he gained much ap- 
plause. His vigorous nature was equally prompt for 
political action, for he was one of the participants in the 
Declaration of 20th June, 1776, forwarded to the Virginia 
Convention. Bold and generous of heart, and prompt for 
•every duty, he was a marked and influential character 
throughout the settlements. 

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Trigg was a much more 
recent emigrant to Kentucky, for he only came hither in 
the autumn of 1779, but he brought such qualities as 
speedily gave him place and influence in his new home. 
Casting in his lot with the men of the frontier, he became 
not only one of them, but one of the very first among 
them. His activity and courage were equal to every emer- 
gency, and brought him always to the front in the never 
ceasing alarms that kept the ill-protected stations in anxious 
vigilance. Nature, too, had enriched him with that most 
rare and enviable gift, the power of winning the earnest 
affections of men. Beyond all others he was beloved by 
the strong hearts of a yeomanry too free in their vigorous 
life to yield homage to aught but merit and goodness — too 
generous to envy the qualities they admired. He rose 
rapidly in the general esteem. Harrod and Bowman and 
Logan ungrudgingly deferred to him. He became with- 
out dissent one of the chief men, and Lieutenant Colonel 
of the militia beyond the Kentucky, of which the veteran 
Logan was Colonel. 

The easy chief of all was the young commandant of the 
•expedition. Though he had but completed his thirty second 
year, the life of John Todd was already full of history and 
crowned with usefulness. He was the first of that band of 
educated young men who joined the hunters in the West, 



28 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



and grafted the aspiration of a higher ambition on the ruder 
tastes of the first pioneers. Born on the 27th March, 1750, 
in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, every circumstance 
of his parentage and surroundings conspired to fit him for 
the part he was to play. The strong Scotch character of 
his father was tempered in him by the benignant and broad 
charity which he inherited from his Quaker mother, Hannah 
Owen. His native county adjoined that from which, while 
Todd was yet an infant, Boone, in his eighteenth year, 
moved southward and westward to the banks of the Yadkin. 
The infection of adventure was breathed in his childhood ; 
for all his earlier associations were with those whose eyes 
were turned westward, and whose hopes of fortune were 
gilded by the setting sun. But a better preparation for life 
awaited young Todd than was enjoyed by most of his 
generation of adventurous youth. He was carefully trained 
by his uncle, the Reverend John Todd, famous in his day 
as a Presbyterian divine, and deserving our remembrance as 
the first who fed the intellectual hunger of the West by the 
gift of a library to the earliest institution of learning in 
Kentucky. In the classical academy of that learned and 
upright uncle in Louisa county, Virginia, young Todd 
passed his boyhood and early youth, gathering there pre- 
cepts which formed his character, and accomplishments 
which graced his usefulness. He quitted school only to 
enter on a larger education, and began the study of the law 
under the supervision of General Andrew Lewis, a magnate 
in the western counties of Virginia. His career as a law- 
yer in the counties of Botetourt and Bedford was too brief 
to yield much either of success or fame. It was abruptly 
terminated by a more stirring and welcome call. 

It was at the battle of Point Pleasant, and in the cam- 
paign of 1774 against the Scioto towns, that Todd had his 
first taste of war, and first proved his fitness for adventur- 
ous life. When General Lewis assembled the Virginia 
volunteers in the camp which he designated, far out upon 
the frontier line, and not very distant from the spot where 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



29 



beauty and fashion now grace the famed White Sulphur 
Springs, he named his former pupil as his aid, and shared 
with him the intimacy of his tent and the confidence of his 
campaign. It was then that Todd saw for the first time the 
Indian warrior in his noblest type, for the redoubted Corn- 
stalk commanded, and Elenipsico and Red Eagle were 
his lieutenants. 

His rank and duty as chief staff officer to General 
Lewis may well have entitled him to witness the treaty 
council, and it is not a violent conjecture that he was one 
of the auditors of that noble speech, famous wherever the 
divine power of oratory is known and appreciated, that has 
fixed the name of Logan, the chief of the Mingoes, forever 
in the roll of the eloquent. 

There, too, he must have met Girty, who carried the dis- 
patches brought to Lewis from Lord Dunmore, little 
dreaming that the humble scout was to be his slayer within 
eight short years. 

The campaign of Point Pleasant and the Scioto decided 
the future of John Todd. No sooner had the volunteers 
returned from their expedition than he made his prepara- 
tions for the career* upon which he was resolved, and in the 
early spring of 1775 he joined Ben. Logan in the establish- 
ing of St. Asaph Station. 

It needed no great while to identify him with his new 
companions, and make him a participant in their boldest 
exploits. In the month of June he was already one of thir- 
teen who ventured from Harrodstown into the wilderness 
farther West, passing Salt river and Green river, to the near 
vicinity of the present city of Bowling Green. Already he 
had attended as a delegate the first assembly convened for 
legislative purposes within our State. It was the meeting 
of delegates called by the proprietors under Henderson's 
treaty of the Wataga. It is interesting to note the parts 
taken by the different members of that little Legislature 
that met under the great elm tree at Boonesboro on the 23d 



30 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



May, 1775. Boone had leave to bring in a bill "for pre- 
. serving game, and so forth" and was most appropriately 
made chairman of the committee to whom it was referred* 
A bill to "prevent profane swearing and Sabb at! 1- breaking". 
was introduced by the Rev. Mr. Lythe, one of the delegates* 
Todd initiated measures for the orderly administration of 
justice, and was named chairman of a committee to draw up 
a compact between the proprietors and the people of the 
colony. True, the scheme of a proprietary government and 
colonization under it was already a century out of date, and 
soon to be abandoned, and Boone and Calloway and Floyd 
and Todd to take part in greater things and under higher 
auspices; but the dawning of self-imposed government was 
then first seen west of the Alleghanies, and the first sug- 
gestion of well ordered law came from John Todd. 

A visit to Virginia in 1776 was followed by a prompt 
return to Kentucky, and his location at Todd's Station, near 
Lexington. The next spring the arduous journey was 
again to be made, for he and Richard Calloway were the 
first burgesses from Kentucky to the General Assembly of 
Virginia. Nor was the interval of time idly passed. In 
December, 1776, he, with nine others, made the perilous, 
attempt to bring powder from near Maysville, through the 
wilderness, to the stations in Central Kentucky. Not far 
from this very spot he then narrowly escaped death at the 
hand of the Indian foe. 

Among his legislative services of surpassing public im- 
portance was the aid he rendered Clark in persuading Gov- 
ernor Henry and the Virginia Assembly to commission 
that great soldier for the conquest of the northwest terri- 
tory. Todd bore him company in the eventful campaign 
of 1778, and took part in the capture of Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes. He succeeded Clark in command, and, com- 
missioned "Colonel Commandant and County Lieutenant."* 

* His commission as "Colonel Commandant" gave Todd rank over 
Logan and the other colonels of militia. This disposes effectually of the 
aspersion that he hurried into the fight at the Blue Licks through fear 
of being superseded in command by Logan's arrival. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



31 



was vested with the amplest powers, civil as well as military. 
There was need of all the qualities he possessed to discharge 
with success the multiplied and onerous duties that crowded 
upon him. His youth, his energetic vigor, his robust health, 
his temperate habits of life, his liberal education, his large 
experience of men and affairs, the integrity and justness of 
his nature, and a certain religious seriousness that underlaid 
his character, combined to fit him for the difficult post. 
With his other duties he retained that of County Lieutenant 
and Colonel of Militia for Fayette county, and, as though 
insatiate for work, again attended the Virginia Assembly as 
a burgess in 1780. There he was found busy in a success- 
ful plan to secure a system of public education in Kentucky 
by the appropriation of public lands. Withal, he was en- 
grossed with a scheme for excluding slavery from the newly 
acquired territory of the Northwest, and for emancipation 
in Kentucky, the one of which was to find its fruit in the 
ordinance of 1787, the other to be delayed more than eighty 
years, despite the efforts of Innes, the Browns, the younger 
Todds, Greenup, the Speeds, McDowell, Rice, and others 
to have it engrafted in the first organic law of the State. 

The sweets of married life were his but for a brief period. 
He married in Virginia in 1780 Jane Hawkins, worthy to 
be the wife of such a husband, and worthy mother of that 
daughter whose cradle was bedewed with tears for the 
tragedy which this day commemorates. How the virtues 
of the parent descended with a blessing to his orphaned 
child; how her long life was replete with benevolence and 
all good works; how she was a very Providence to the 
suffering and a rock of refuge to the oppressed and the 
poor, still dwells in the memories of many who knew her, 
and is part of the history of that community in which she 
lived and died.* 

The four officers chief in rank agreed that Logan's arrival 
should be waited for. The junior officers, Majors Levi 

^The only child of Col. John Todd was a daughter — Mary Owen~ 
Todd — who became the second wife of the Hon. Robert Wickliffe, of 
Lexington. She left no issue. 



32 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 

Todd and McBride, Captains Patterson, Gordon, Bulger, 
and others, acquiesced. The entire command was content 
to obey the order to halt from those whose courage and 
judgment they implicitly trusted. 

But there was one man whose restless and insubordinate 
nature and rash indifference to danger could not brook the 
delay. To his charge has justly been laid the disorder, the 
tumultuous and blind rush, the heedless and unhappy disre- 
gard of Boone's counsel and Todd's commands, the brave 
lives lost on that sad day. 

The name of Major Hugh McGary will be remembered 
until Kentuckians forget the story of the pioneers. It will 
be mentioned whenever men tell of the battle of the Blue 
Licks. It will remain conspicuous in the annals of our 
earlier times. But it is a sad and unenviable fame that has 
survived him. Even his virtues of courage and endurance 
come down to us, and will be further transmitted in our 
history, clouded by the great misfortune of which he was 
the cause. He was a rude, brave, violent man. No early 
discipline, either of the family or the school, had taught him 
deference to the authority of others, or formed the habit of 
self-control. The resolute and tranquil philosophy of Boone 
he could not understand. The large and noble character of 
Logan was beyond his comprehension, and he despised the 
accomplishments of Todd and Trigg. His daring was pro- 
verbial, and his adventures as rash as they were numerous. 
But his bravest feats were oftimes the outgrowth of mere 
turbulence, and soiled by the inspiration of personal re- 
venge. He rose not to the noble thought that a new peo- 
ple and a great State were to honor in the coming years 
those who, with unselfish courage, should lay the foundations 
of the Commonwealth. Revenge for the loss of his horses 
was his highest motive for Indian war. Envy, too, perhaps, 
unknown to himself, gave to his judgments of men and 
their motives an often sinister cast. Happily, there is no 
other instance of that malign passion in the history or tra- 
ditions of our pioneers. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



33 



He was foremost in every peril, and prominent in every 
strife. His hot blood made him dangerous even to his 
friends, and he once was scarce prevented by his own wife 
(so the story as told by Mrs. Harrod went) from shooting 
down James Harrod in some trifling dispute. 

It was he who, as late as 1786, murdered the old Shawnee 
chief Moluntha, simply because he had participated in the 
battle of Blue Licks, and with ruffian vociferation denounced 
all who condemned the foul deed.* 

But the courage and reckless daring with which he 
-courted peril made him a man of mark and value in those 
dangerous times. 

Offended, perhaps, at not being called into the consulta- 
tion that had just been held, McGary chose to construe as 
a want of proper courage the obvious prudence of his supe- 
rior officers. A few hot words passed as he spoke with 
Todd and Boone, and then, with headlong impetuosity, he 
turned his horse's head and dashed into the stream, calling 
on all who were not cowards to follow him. 

The unfortunate example was contagious. Whether it 
was that they imagined that the order for advance had been 
given, or whether because of mere unreasoning enthusiasm, 
the hunter-soldiers followed with a shout, and rushed in dis- 
order across the ford. It was in vain that Todd and Boone 
and Trigg and Harlan endeavored to restrain the excited 
•crowd. Their men were deaf to entreaty and to command. 
The entire force passed the river, and they had no choice 
but to follow. With utmost difficulty a halt was induced, 
after the crossing was accomplished, on yon low ground 
where the ridge comes down with its rocky base to join the 
narrow plain. Disorder reigned, and authority had been 
defied. The scene lies there before us. Survey it and 
judge, ye whose eyes have witnessed hard fought fields, and 
who have been taught in the greatest of wars. Consider 



*See Note E. 



34 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



their difficulties and dangers, the peril of their new position,, 
and vindicate the memory of Boone and Todd. 

The barrier of the river in front had been abandoned*. 
Those flanking hills and the narrow ford, that forbade attack 
so long as the river intervened, could no longer afford pro- 
tection to the little band. 

The river and its difficult passage was now in their rear. 
No kindly shelter covered either flank. In front was the 
rocky acclivity rising with rugged ascent to the point where 
the buffalo trace disappeared over the hill-top, its nakedness 
relieved only by the thick branched and stunted cedars, that 
made it the more difficult to surmount. 

To recross the river was impossible. McGary's. insubor- 
dination had so infected the men that it was not to be 
thought of. To remain in the new position was madness, 
even had the contest been one of equal numbers. No 
choice was left but to advance to where fortune should offer 
a new and safer halting-place. With customary prudence,. 
Boone advised a careful examination towards the front. 
The bold men sent forward to reconnoitre passed up the 
ridge, inspecting as they went either side of the road. They 
examined with care those converging ravines, and the nar- 
row way between them at the crest. Still further they went,, 
until they had explored a half mile or more beyond. They 
were faithful men and brave; they were chosen because of 
their experience. How came it that they made report that 
no enemy was to be found? 

Girty handled his Indians with ability and firmness. His 
clear judgment appreciated the prospect for a victory that 
the locality afforded him. He had enough of authority 
to cause his Indians to fall back noiselessly and rap- 
idly on either side — back from the sides of the trace arid 
from the ravines, into the dense and secure cover of the ad- 
joining hills. There they lay in perfect silence and secrecy 
while the reconnoissance was made. As the scouts passed 
in return towards the river, the Indians, in perfect order and 
in dead silence, moved back to their chosen position. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



35 



It was a masterly move, most difficult of performance, 
and most completely performed. It stamps Girty as a sol- 
dier, and his powers of command as extraordinary. 

The report of the reconnoitering party was explicit and' 
satisfactory. All had right to accept it ; none discredited 
it. Even Boone's caution seems to have been satisfied, and: 
his apprehension allayed. The advance commenced. 

Ranged in a single line, its center pursuing the trace,, 
while on either hand the flanks extended beyond it, the little 
army was told off into three divisions. Boone was on the 
left, there towards the west, and with him Patterson;* 
Trigg was on the right, and with him the Harrodsburg men; 
Todd remained in the center in general command, while 
Major McGary had charge of that part of the line.- In 
front of all Harlan, with twenty-five mounted men, moved 
up the trace as an advanced guard. The difficult march up 
the hill continued until Harlan had reached the crest, 
where the ravines converge. The main body was just sur- 
mounting the slope. The Kentuckians were well within the 
net, and the murderous fire began. 

The Indians, from their secure cover, and at short range> 
began their battle on the right. Trigg and nearly all the 
men from Harrodsburg fell in a brief space. Instantly Har- 
lan was fired upon from both flanks, and he and all his men 
but three were killed. The sudden and effective fire of the 
enemy checked the advance and threw the line into confu- 
sion. Girty instantly extended his line, and turned the 
flank where Trigg had fallen, and the Indians in overpower- 
ing numbers rushed forward with tomahawk and rifle. 

The resistance was desperate but hopeless. Todd rallied 
his men with voice and example. His white horse made 
him a conspicuous mark, and it was not many minutes be- 
fore he received a death-shot through the body. Mounting 
again, careless of his mortal wound, he renewed his" effort 
to hold the men around the spot where Boone was still 

*See Note F. 



36 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



contending on the left. But the day was lost. He was 
seen to reel in his saddle, the blood gushing from his 
wounds, and he fell. 

The defeat became a rout. As may well be seen, the 
place afforded no shelter for a defeated force. The only 
hope of safety was in recrossing the river and regaining the 
ground which had been so rashly abandoned. The narrow 
ford was crowded with fugitives who fell in numbers as they 
attempted to escape. Last to leave the field was Boone and 
his young son, mortally wounded, and borne in his father's 
arms until death ended his agonies. 

The wisdom of Todd and Boone had been dreadfully 
vindicated. McGary survived unhurt to witness, though he 
professed not to regret, the fearful consequences of his in- 
subordinate folly.* 

The renegade ^Girty had glutted his vengeance in the 
best blood of Kentucky, and pursued his way across the 
Ohio, no more to appear upon its soil. Thirty years were 
to pass before he should again confront Kentuckians in 
fight, and yield his life, where Tecumseh fell, to the rifles of 
the sons of the pioneers. f 

The day closed. Its sun went down on an anguish that 
was unspeakable. Desolation and mourning had come to 
every station within the settlements, and sorrow was in 
every heart. For the fallen were the good men of the 
people. They were the heads of families, the husbands of 
wives now unprotected, the fathers of little ones now or- 
phans in a wilderness. They were the hope of the rising 
State; its strong defense in its need ; its tried and true and 
brave citizens. 

In every settlement, in every cabin the cry of woe was 
heard. Those who had not lost husbands wept for slain 
brothers, or cowered in agony at the thought that fathers 
would never more return. 



*See Note E. 
tSee Note G. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



37 



No one but lamented a friend. The heart of the whole 
people was stricken sore. The common danger, and the 
habit of mutual aid in their perils and privations, had made, 
as it were, one family of all the pioneers. 

Strong men wept as they comforted the widows of their 
friends, and vowed fatherly care for their little ones. 

And while the universal grief went up for the slain and 
the bereaved, the hearts of men were warmed with a noble 
glow as the unselfish bravery of that fatal day was told. 
Those who survived brought the word how gallantly Todd 
and Trigg and Harlan and McBride, Bulger and Gor- 
don, Overton and McConnell, Lindsay and Graham 
and Kennedy and Stewart and others, had died in the 
bloody fight. The country rang with praise of those who,, 
like Netherland, were conspicuously heroic, and, like 
Reynolds, saved the lives of their friends at the peril of 
their own.* 

The dreadful sacrifice was not in vain, for the fight of that 
day was the decisive struggle for supremacy in Kentucky. 
The men who died on this spot achieved in their death the 
future safety of their friends and the State. The last incur- 
sion of an Indian force had been attempted, and no more 
were able and cruel men to assemble tribes and march sav- 
age armies into our borders. The great danger was forever 
gone. The recovery of Kentucky was never again at- 
tempted. The homes of the pioneers were for all time 
secure. 

It was for this that the devoted band died, and this in 
their death they achieved. The result was worth the sacri- 
fice — great as the sacrifice was. 

In the blood of that day were cemented the solid founda- 
tions of a powerful State. A victory was plucked from 
defeat. 

The news of the disaster quickly reached Logan, who was 
pushing on with a strong re-enforcement. Too late the sur- 



*See Note H. 



38 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



vivors saw how Logan's aid would have saved the day. 
One melancholy duty only was to be performed. The 
mutilated bodies of the slain were reverently collected and 
interred on the field of their last battle. 

And here have they lain for an hundred years, sepulchred 
in the soil they loved so well. Their sleep has been the 
rest of warriors in honored graves. The children whom 
they left to bear up the fortunes of the coming State have 
long since followed in matured old age into the hereafter. 
A third generation has grown venerable in years. A mighty 
host peoples the land which then was but a solitude. This 
great concourse, gathered from the remotest parts of a pros- 
perous and happy State, meets in reverent homage where 
that little band fought and died. No savage foe lurks near. 
Peace prevails throughout all our borders. The wounds of 
our own dissensions have been mercifully healed, and the 
griefs of a civil war forgotten in a renewed and strengthened 
brotherhood. 

The comforts of life fill our habitations. Rude privation 
has given place to 'ease. Security reigns where once all 
was danger. Forests and brakes have bowed to sturdy 
industry. The lonely trace and the perilous war-path are 
supplanted by the highways of a happy and an increasing 
commerce. The wild buffalo has given place to the cattle 
on a thousand hills The field of the husbandman laughs 
in the joy of abundant harvest. Plenty is scattered in 
bounteous profusion throughout a smiling land. 

Yet, amid all the changes that a century has witnessed, 
Nature preserves, scarce altered, the features of that im- 
portant scene. The sweeping river bends as of old, a 
silvery border about the battle-ground. The ford, the trace, 
the ravines, the fatal crest of yon stony slope, remain in 
vivid identity. They mark in imperishable characters the 
story of that day. 

What need, then, of a monument to commemorate the 
deed ? What can man add of his perishable device to the 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



39 



indestructible memorials which Nature's self has placed 
here? Why is it that we have come together to lay this 
stone and build this shaft? 

It is because it is a good thing to honor the brave, and 
show gratitude to the noble and generous. It is because 
we would recall in the prosperity and peace so wonderfully 
ours, the men whose courage in life and devotion in death 
secured that peace and happiness to us. It is because we 
would refresh the memories of their patriotism, and repeat 
the story of their virtues. It is because we would have our 
children learn, as we have been taught, how brave were the 
men whose bones have long mouldered here; how enduring 
was their purpose, how prompt they were to every friendly 
office, how free from cruelty or envy, how ready to yield up 
their lives for their country and their friends. 

Let us thank the God of our fathers that He has vouch- 
safed us descent from such an ancestry. Let us return 
hence to our homes, proud in the thought that the valor and 
virtues of our pioneers have in all these years been an un- 
sullied treasure in the keeping of their descendants. And 
as the revolving years move on, and we become in our turn 
the gray-haired patriarchs, let it be our office to tell, as we 
were told, the tale of this battle, and to teach, as we were 
taught, how beautiful and how sweet it is to die, as these 
died, for country and for friends. 



* 



NOTES. 



Note A. 

The name " Lulbegrud " was given to the creek referred to, in 1770, by- 
Alexander Neely, a companion of Boone, and it appears on the earliest 
maps as a well-known water-course. Boone and his comrades had with, 
them a copy of Swift's " Gulliver's Travels," and the name was taken 
from that of the capital city of Brobdingnag. Well established tradition 
confirmed me in this opinion ; but, since this address was delivered, my 
friend Judge Wm, M. Beckner, of Winchester, has furnished me the fol- 
lowing documentary proof, which is conclusive. It is copied verbatim eir 
literatim from the original, as recorded in Deposition Book No. I, page- 
156, Clark county court, Kentucky: 

"The deposition of Daniel Boone, being of lawful age, taken before- 
" us, the subscribing commissioners, this 15th day of September, 1796,. 
"being first duly sworn, deposeth and sayeth that in the year 1770 I 
" encamped on Red river with five other men, and we had with us for our 
"amusement the History of Samuel Gulliver's Travels, wherein he gave 
"an account of his young master, Glumdelick, careing him on a market 
"day for a show to a town called Lulbegrud. 

"A young man of our company called Alexander Neely came to 
"camp to camp one night & told us he had been that day to Lulbegrud, & 
" had killed two Brobdignags in their capital, * * * * and further, 
"sayeth not. Daniel Boone." 

The Shawnees were settled on the Lulbegrud certainly as late as I75°s- 
as is well established. They occupied Kentucky before the French war. 

The noted chief Blackhoof (Catahecassa) was born on the banks of 
the Lulbegrud. He participated in the battle of Br.addock's defeat, and 
in 1816 revisited Kentucky, and identified the localities formerly occupied 
by his people, and amid which he had spent his earlier years. He died in. 
1831, aged nearly one hundred and twenty years. 

An interesting account of his funeral is given by the Quaker missionary. 
Harvey in his History of the Shawnee Indians, page 185 

The Shawnee settlement on the Lulbegrud (as also Blackhoof's visit 
to Kentucky) is referred to in a letter written in 1847 by the late Joseph; 
Ficklin, of Lexington, to H. R. Schoolcraft. It will be found in. 
Schoolcraft's Report on the Indian Tribes, vol. l, page 300, published byv 
the War Department, 1851. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



41 



Note B. 

A full account of the several councils and legislative assemblies held at 
Harrodsburg would be too voluminous for insertion here The original 
"Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Delegates or Representatives of 
the Colony of Transylvania, begun on Tuesday, 23d May, in the year of our 
Lord Christ 1 7 75, and in the fifteenth year of the reign of His Majcsy King 
of Great Britain," is preserved by Mr Collins in his History of Ken- 
tucky, vol. 2, page 501; as also is " The Petition of the Inhabitants and 
some of the Intended Settlers,'''' on page 510 of the same volume. In the 
same connection Mr. Collins gives a good account of Henderson's Pur- 
chase and the Transylvania Colony, which may be compared with Gov. 
Morehead's sketch. (Morehead, page 37.) 

The following hitherto unpublished paper is given from the original: 
manuscript in my possession. This manuscript was in the custody of 
Patrick Lockhart, Secretary of the Convention of Virginia, from the 
hands of whose son it came to his relative, the late Colonel George Han- 
cock, of Jefferson county, Kentucky, who gave it to me : 

" To the Honourable the Convention of Virginia: 

"The Humble petition of the Committee of West Fincastle of the- 
"Colony of Virginia, Being on the North and South Sides of the River 
" Kentucke (or Louisa). Present, John Gabriel Jones, Esqr., chairman, 
"John Bowman, John Cowen, William Bennet, Joseph Bowman, John 
"Crittenden, Isack Hite, George Rodgers Clark, Andrew McConnel, 
"Hugh McGary, James Harrod, Silas Harland, William McConnel and- 
"John Maxwell, gentlemen. The Inhabitants of this remote part of 
" Virginia who are equally desirous of contributing to the utmost of 
"their power to the Support of the present laudable cause of American 
"Freedom and willing to prove to the World, that tho they live so 
"remote from the Seat of Government, that they Feel in the most Sensi- 
ble manner for the Suffering Brethern, and that they most Ardently 
"desire to be looked upon as part of the Colony notwithstanding the- 
"Base proceedings of a Detestible, Wicked and Corrupt Ministry to pre- 
"vent anymore County's to be laid off without the inhabitants would 
"be so Pusilanimous as to give up the Right of appointing proper Per- 
" sons to Represent 'em in Assembly or Convention, and as we further 
"conceive that as the Proclamation of His Majesty for not settling on 
" the Western Waters of this Colony is not founded upon Law, it can 
"have no Force. And if we submit to that Proclamation as well as to 
"have other Counties laid off without sending any Representatives to ye 
"Convention, it's in our Opinion manifesting an Acquiesence to the- 
" Will of an Abandoned Ministry and leaving an Opening to their 
"Wicked and Diabolical designs as then this Immense and Fertile Coun- 
" try would afford an Assylum to those whose Principles are inimical to 
"American Freedom, And if Counties are not laid off as Fincastle- 



42 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



"County now Reaches and already Settled near Three Hundred and 
" Eighty Miles from East to West it would be impossible that two Dele- 
gates can be Sufficient to Represent such a Respectable body of People, 
"or that Such a number of Inhabitants should be Bound to Obey without 
"being heard, and as those very People would most cheerfully Co operate 
"in every measure tending to the Publick Peace and American Liberty if 
"their Delegates now chosen by the Free voice of the Inhabitants on the 
"Western Waters of Fincastle (on Kentucke) and which Election was 
"held for Eight days at Harrods Town after the Preparatory Notice of 
" Five Weeks given to the Inhabitants, and on the Pole being Closed, 
" Captain John Gabriel Jones and Captain George Rodgers Clark having 
"the Majority were returned, and not doubting the acceptance, of 'em as 
"our Representatives by the Honourable ye Convention, to serve in that 
"Capacity, as we conceive the Precedent Established in West Augusta will 
" Justify our Proceedings; And we cannot but observe how impolidcal it 
"would be to Suffer such a Respectable Body of Prime Rifle Men to 
"remain in a state of Neutrality, when at this time a Certain Set of men 
" from North Carolina stiling 'emselves Proprietors and claiming an Abso- 
lute Right to these very Lands talcing upon 'emselves the Legislative 
"Authority, Appointing Offices both Civil and Military, having also 
"opened a Land Office Surveyors General &. Deputys appointed & act, 
"conveyances made, and Land sold at. an Exhorbitant Price, with many 
"other unconstitutional practices tending to disturb the In * * * 
'" those who are well disposed to the who some Gover * * * of Vir- 
"ginia, and creating factions and Divisions amongst * * * as we 
"have not hitherto been Represented in Convention and well knowing ye 
"Frailty of Human Nature that Interest will often Predominate, and 
" that the Tyrannick Ministry would not stop at any means to reduce the 
'" loyal americans to th * * * detestable ends that if these pretended 
" Proprietors have leave to continue to act in their arbitrary man * * * 
"out controul of this Colony the end must be evident to every well 
"wisher to American Li * * * at this time of Danger we cannot 
" take too much Precaution * * * the Inroads of ye Savages and 
"prevent the Effusion of In * * * Blood. We the Committee 
"(after receiving a Messuage * * * the Chi-efs of the Delaware's 
"who are now settled near the Mouth of the Waubash) informing us 
"that a League * * * held at Opost, by the English and ye Kicca- 
" poos Indi * * * and that they would attend to know the purport 
"of the same, if their Brothers the Long Knife would send a man they 
" could rely on, they would on their Return inform 'em of the same & they 
" were Apprehensive the Kiccapoos would strike their Brothers ye Long 
" Knife therefore we thought it most prudent and shall send immediately 
" a Certain James Herrod and Garret Pendergrass, to converse with 'em 
"on ye same. And as it's the Request of the Inhabitants that we should 
"point out a Number of Men Capable and most acquainted with the 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



4:5 



" Laws of this Colony to act as Magistrates, a List of the same we have 
"inclosed, and For other Matters Relative to this Country we Conceive 
" that Captain Jones and Captain Clark our Delegates will be able to 
" inform the Honourable the Convention, not doubting but they will 
"listen to our Petition and take us under their Jurisdiction — And your 
" Petitioners as in Duty Bound &c. 
"Signed by order of the Committee. 

" Jno. Ga Jones, Chairman, 
"Abraham Hite, junr, Clerk. 

" Harrodsburg, June 20th, 1776." 

The Jno. Ga. Jones whose name appears in the foregoing as the chair- 
man, was killed by Indians near the Blue Licks on 26th December. 1776. 
He, in company with Col. John Todd and others, was attempting to bring 
powder from the Ohio river to the stations in Central Kentucky. 



Note C. 

The narrative of Crawford's death by torture is given by Dr. Knight, 
his companion and friend, as follows : 

"Monday morning, the tenth of June, we were paraded to march to 
*' Sandusky, about thirty-three miles distant. They had eleven prisoners 
"of us and four scalps, the Indians being seventeen in number. 

"Colonel Crawford was very desirous to see a certain Simon Girty, 
"who lived with the Indians, amd was on this account permitted to go to 
" town the same night, with two warriors to guard him, having orders at. 
"the same time to pass by the place where the Colonel had turned out his 
"horse, that they might, if possible, find him. The rest of us were taken 
"as far as the old town, which was within eight miles of the new 

"Tuesday morning, the eleventh, Col. Crawford was brought out to us 
"on purpose to be marched in with the other prisoners. I asked the Col- 
"onel if he had seen Mr. Girty. He told me he had, and that Girty had 
"promised to do everything in his power for him, but that the Indians 
"were very much enraged against the prisoners, particularly Capt. Pipe, 
" one of the chiefs. He likewise told me that Girty had informed him 
"that his son-in-law, Colonel Harrison, and his nephew, William Craw- 
"ford, were made prisoners by the Shawanese, but had been pardoned. 
■"This Captain Pipe had come from the town about an hour before Colo- 
"nel Crawford, and had painted all the prisoners' faces black. As he was 
•"painting me he told me I should go to the Shawanese towns and see my 
"friends. When the Colonel arrived he painted him black also told him 
"he was glad to see him, and that he would have him shaved when he 
"came to see his friends at the Wyandot town. When we marched the 

Colonel and I were kept back between Pipe and Wyngenim, the two 



44 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



"Delaware chiefs; the other nine prisoners were sent forward with an- 
" other party of Indians. As we went along we saw four of the prisoners 
"lying by the path tomahawked and scalped. Some of them were at the 
" distance of half a mile from each other. When we arrived within half 
"a mile of the place where the Colonel was executed, we overtook the 
"five prisoners that remained alive; the Indians had caused them to sit 
" down on the ground, as they did also the Colonel and me at some dis- 
'•tance from them. I was there given in charge to an Indian fellow to be 
• ' taken to the Shawanese towns In the place where we were now made 
"to sit down there was a number of squaws and boys, who fell on the five 
"prisoners and tomahawked them. There was a certain John McKinly 
"amongst the prisoners, formerly an officer in the 13th Virginia Regiment, 
"whose head an old squaw cut off, and the Indians kicked it about upon' 
"the ground. The young Indian fellows came often where the Colonel 
"and I were, and dashed the scalps in our faces. We were then con- 
" ducted along toward the place where the Colonel was afterwards exe- 
cuted. When we came within about a half mile of it, Simon Girty met 
" us, with several Indians on horseback. He spoke to the Colonel, but as 
"I was about one hundred and fifty yards behind, could not hear what 
" passed between them. 

"Almost every Indian we met struck us either with sticks or their fists. 
"Girty waited till I was brought up, and asked was that the Doctor. I 
"told him yes, and went towards him, reaching out my hand, but he bid 
"me begone, and called me a damned rascal, upon which the fellows who> 
"had me in charge pulled me along. Girty rode up after me, and told 
"me I was to go to the Shawanese towns. 

" When we went to the fire the Colonel was stripped naked, ordered to 
"sit down by the fire, and then they beat him with sticks and their fists. 
"Presently I was treated in the same manner. They then tied a rope to 
"the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the Colonel's hands- 
"behind his back, and fastened the rope to the ligature between his 
"wrists. The rope was long enough for him to sit down or walk round 
'the post once or twice, and return the same way. The Colonel then' 
' called to Girty and asked if they intended to burn him. Girty answered, 
1 yes. The Colonel said he would take it all patiently. Upon this Capt. 
' Pipe, a Delaware chief, made a speech to the Indians, viz: about thirty 
< or forty men, sixty or seventy squaws and boys. 

"When the speech was finished they all yelled a hideous and hearty 
'assent to what had been said. The Indian men then took up their guns 
' and shot powder into the Colonel's body, from his feet as far up as his 
'neck. I think that not less than seventy loads were discharged upon his 
'naked body. They then crowded about him, and, to the best of my 
'observation, cut off his ears. When the throng had dispersed a little, I 
'saw the blood running from both sides of his head in consequence there - 
'of. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



45 



"The fire was about six or seven yards from the post to which the Col- 
"onel was tied. It was made of small hickory poles, burnt quite through 
'"in the middle, each end of the pole remaining about six feet in length. 
" Three or four Indians by turns would take up, individually, one of these 
•"burning pieces of wood and apply it to his naked body, already burnt 
" black with the powder. These tormentors presented themselves on 
"every side of him with the burning fagots and poles. Some of the 
"squaws took broad boards, upon which they would carry a quantity of 
" burning coals and hot embers and throw on him, so that, in a short 
" time, he had nothing but coals of fire and hot ashes to walk upon. 

"In the midst of these extreme tortures, he called to Simon Girty and 
"begged of him to shoot him; but Girty making no answer, he called to 
"him again. Girty then, by way of derision, told the Colonel he had no 
■"gun, at the same time turning about to an Indian who was behind him, 
"laughed heartily; and by all his gestures seemed delighted at the horrid 
" scene. 

" Girty then came up to me and bade me prepare for death. He said, 
■"however, I was not to die at that place, but to be burnt at the Shawanese 
" towns. He swore by G — d I need not expect to escape death, but should 
"suffer it in all its extremities. 

" He then observed that some prisoners had given him to understand 
■"that if our people h^.d him they would not hurt him. For his part, he 
"said, he did not believe it, but desired to know my opinion of the mat- 
"ter; but being at that time in great anguish and distress for the tor- 
"ments the Colonel was suffering before my eyes, as well as the expectation 
*'of undergoing the same fate in two days, I made little or no answer. 
" He expressed a great deal of ill will for Colonel Gibson, and said he 
"was one of his greatest enemies, and more to the same purpose, to all 
"which I paid very little attention. 

*" Colonel Crawford, at this period of his sufferings, besought the 
•"Almighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very low, and bore his 
" torments with the most manly fortitude. He continued in all the ex- 
"tremities of pain for an hour and three quarters or two hours longer, as 
" near as I can judge, when at last, being almost exhausted, he lay down 
"on his belly; they then scalped him, and repeatedly threw the scalp in 
"my face, telling me, ' That was my great Captain.' An old squaw (whose 
"appearance every way answered the ideas people entertain of the Devil) 
"got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes, and laid them on his back 
"and head, after he had been scalped ; he then raised himself upon his 
" feet, and began to walk round the post ; they next put a burning stick 
" to him as usual, but he seemed more insensible of pain than before" 

" The Indian fellow who had me in charge now took me away to Capt. 
"Pipe's house, about three quarters of a mile from the place of the Colo- 
"nel's execution. I was bound all night, and thus prevented from seeing 
<l the last of the horrid spectacle. Next morning, being June 12th, the 



46 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



"Indian untied me, painted me black, and we set off for the Shawanese 
"town, which he told me was somewhat less than forty miles distant from 
" that place. We soon came to the place where the Colonel had been 
"burnt, as it was partly in our way; I saw his bones lying amongst the 
"remains of the fire, almost burnt to ashes; I suppose after he was dead 
" they laid his body on the fire. The Indian told me that was my big 
" Captain, and gave the scalp halloo." (See Western Annals, pages 245, 
246, 247, and 248.) 



Note D. 

The reply of Aaron Reynolds to Girty is thus given by McClung, 
page 67 : 

"To Girty's inquiry, 'Whether the garrison knew him?' Reynolds 
"replied, 'That he was very well known; that he himself had a worth- 
less dog, to which he had given the name of 'Simon Girty,' 1 in conse- 
" quence of his striking resemblance to the man of that name; that if he 
"had either artillery or re-enforcements, he might bring them up and be 

"d d; that if either himself, or any of the naked rascals with him, 

" found their way into the fort, they would disdain to use their guns 
"against them, but would drive them out again wit^i switches, of which 
" they had collected a great number for that purpose alone ; and finally, he 
"declared, that they also expected re-enforcements; that the whole coun- 
" try was marching to their assistance ; that if Girty and his gang of 
" murderers remained twenty-four hours longer before the fort, their 
" scalps would be found drying in the sun upon the roofs of their 
"cabins."' <> 



Note E. 

Major Hugh McGary himself gave an account of the battle of the 
Blue Licks, which has been in part preserved by McClung (pages 74, 75, 
and 76) , as follows : 

"Several years after the battle of the Blue Licks, a gentleman of Ken- 
" tucky, since dead, fell in company with McGary at one of the circuit 
" courts, and the conversation soon turned upon the battle. McGary 
"frankly acknowledged that he, himself, was the immediate cause of the 
"loss of blood on that day, and with great heat and energy, assigned his 

reasons for urging on the battle. He said that in the hurried council 
" which was held at Bryant's on the 18th, he had strenuously urged Todd 
"and Trigg to halt for twenty-four hours, assuring them that, with the 
"aid of Logan, they would be able to follow them even to Chillicothe, if 
" necessary, and that their numbers then were too weak to encounter 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



47 



" them alone. He offered, he said, to pledge his head that the Indians 
"would not return with such precipitation as was supposed, but would 
"afford ample time to collect more force, and give them battle with a 
" prospect of success. 

" He added that Colonel Todd scouted his arguments, and declared 
"that, 'if a single day was lost, the Indians would never be overtaken, 
»■ but would cross the Ohio and disperse ; that now was the time to strike 
"them, while they were in a body; that to talk of their numbers was 
"nonsense — the more the merrier; that for his part he was determined 
" to pursue without a moment's delay, and did not doubt there were brave 
"men enough on the ground, to enable him to attack them with effect.' 
" McGary declared, 'That he felt somewhat nettled at the manner in 
" which his advice had been received. That he thought Todd and Trigg 
"jealous of Logan, who, as senior Colonel, would be entitled to the com- 
" mand on his arrival; and that, in their eagerness to have the honor of 
"the victory to themselves, they were rashly throwing themselves into a 
"condition, which would endanger the safety of the country. 

"'However, sir,'" continued he with an air of unamiable triumph, 
"'when I saw the gentlemen were so keen for a fight I gave way, and 
"joined in the pursuit as willingly as any ; but when we came in sight of 
"the enemy, and the gentlemen began to talk of 'numbers,' 'position,' 
"'Logan,' and 'waiting,' I burst into a passion, d — d them for a set of 
" cowards, who could not be wise until they were scared into it, and 
" swore that since they had come so far for a fight they should fight, or I 
" would disgrace them forever ; that when I spoke of waiting for Logan 
"on the day before, they had scouted the idea, and hinted something 
* about ' courage ;' that now it would be shown who had courage, or who 
"were d — d cowards, that could talk big when the enemy was at a dis- 
tance, but turned pale when danger was near. I then dashed into the 
'•river, and called upon all who were not cowards to follow.' The gentle- 
" man upon whose authority this is given, added that, even then, Mc- 
" Gary spoke with bitterness of the deceased Colonels, and swore that they 
"had received just what they deserved, and that he, for one, was glad Of 
"it." • . _■ 

Justice to Todd's memory requires that it should be here noted that he 
could not have been influenced by any jealousy or fear that Logan, on his 
arrival, would supersede him in command. Logan was Colonel of the 
Lincoln county militia, and Todd held the same rank in the Fayette mili- 
tia. Logan's militia commission was the senior of the two, but Todd 
held also, as commandant of the Northwestern territory, the commission, 
of Colonel in the State line for regular service of Virginia, and this gave: 
him rank over all officers, except Clark, who was Brigadier General. 



48 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



The shameful murder of the Shawnee Moluntha by McGary in 1786 is 
narrated by McClung in his sketch of the life of Logan as follows (he 
erroneously gives the date as 1788) : 

"A single incident attending this expedition deserves to be commemo- 
~" rated. Upon approaching a large village of the Shawnees, from which, 
"as usual, most of the inhabitants had fled, an old chief named Molun- 
"tha came out to meet them, fantastically dressed in an old cocked hat 
"set jauntily upon one side of his head, and a fine shawl thrown over his 
"shoulders. He carried an enormous pipe in one hand, and a tobacco 
"pouch in the other, and strutted out with the air of an old French beau 
" to smoke the pipe of peace with his enemies, whom he found himself 
"unable to meet in the field. 

" Nothing could be more striking than the fearless confidence with which 
""he walked through the foremost ranks of the Kentuckians, evidently 
"highly pleased with his own appearance, and enjoying the admiration 
"which he doubted not. that his cocked hat and splendid shawl inspired. 
"Many of the Kentuckians were highly amused at the mixture of dandy- 
"ism and gallantry which the poor old man exhibited, and shook hands 
"with him very cordially. Unfortunately, however, he at length ap- 
'proached Major McGary, whose temper, never particularly sweet, was 
"as much inflamed by the sight of an Indian as that of a wild bull by the 
" waving of a red flag. It happened, unfortunately too, that Moluntha 
"had been one of the chiefs who commanded at the Blue Licks, a disaster 
< '-which McGary had not yet forgotten. 

" Instead of giving his hand as the others had done, McGary scowled 
"upon the old man, and asked him if 'he recollected the Blue Licks.' 
" Moluntha smiled, and merely repeated the word 'Blue Licks,' "when 
" McGary instantly drew his tomahawk and cleft him to the brain The 
"old man received the blow without flinching for a second, and fell dead 
"at the feet of his destroyer. Great excitement instantly prevailed in the 
"army. Some called it a ruthless murder, and others swore that he had 
"done right— that an Indian was not to be regarded as a human being, 
"but ought to be shot down as a wolf whenever and wherever he ap- 
peared. McGary himself raved like a madman at the reproach of his 
"countrymen, and declared, with many bitter oaths, that he would not 
" only kill every Indian whom he met, whether in peace or war, at church 
-"or market, but that he would equally as readily tomahawk the man who 
"•blamed him for the act." (McClung, 117-18.) 

McGary came from North Carolina with Boone, Hogan, and Denton 
in 1775. His wife who came with him was one of the three white women 
that first came to Kentucky. He was witb Clark as a Captain in 1780, 
•and became Major of the militia of Lincoln -county in 1 781. The widow 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



49 



of James Karroo is said, by those who profess to have heard her, to 
have given an account of McGARY S violent temper as follows: 

Hugh was perfectly fearless and very useful in going out and killing 
"game for the fort when it was like to be starved out, but he was hot- 
-headed and quarrelsome ; so much so, that once my husband (Colonel 
"James Harrod) and he leveled their guns at each other, and Mrs. Mc- 
"Gary ran between them and threw her husband's gun up, and Colonel 
" Harrod turned and walked off." 



Note F. 

Colonel Robert Patterson was, without doubt, one of the most active 
and enterprising of the pioneers of Kentucky and Ohio. He has the 
honor of having founded three nourishing cities of the two States He 
was one of the party that located and named Lexington, Kentucky. At 
a later day he, with Denman and FlLSON, established Cincinnati or 
Losantiville, as it was first called, and in 1803 he settled where now Day- 
ton is built, fie was horn in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1753, and 
first came to Kentucky in 1775. Penetrating the country from a point 
on the Ohio, near where Maysville now stands, he assisted in locating 
McClelland's Station, at the Royal Spring, now Georgetown. This was 
found to be untenable, and PATTERSON, with Levi Todo and others, 
erected a cabin within the present limits of Le'xington, near the bold 
spring which gushes Irom the bank between the Leestown Turnpike and 
the Town Fork of Elkhorn, just south of the present cemetery inclosure. 

In October, 1776, he was one of a party of seven that started to Fort 
Pitt for a supply of ammunition The Indians attacked them, killing 
two and capturing one. Only one of the whi es escaped unhurt. Pat- 
terson was desperately wounded— his right arm was broken by two bul- 
lets, and he received a tomahawk wound in his back that penetrated to 
the cavity With wonderful fortitude he and his wounded companions 
dragged themselves to the point where assistance at last reached them, 
For almost a year he was disabled , and indeed never ceased to feel the 
tortures of his tomahawk wound. It was because of this that Reynolds 
gave him his horse at the battle of the Blue Licks : he could not otherwise 
have escaped the pursuit. 

He was soon, however, again in Kentucky, joined Clark in the Illinois 
campaign, and became an Ensign of militia. He entered the land, and 
laid oft" the town of Lexington. He was in Bowman's expedition in 
1779, and the next year with Clark at Old Chillicothe and the Mad 
River towns. He was a Captain at the battle of the Blue Licks, and took 
part in the expedition of the autumn of that year, as well as that of 1786 
against the Shawnee towns. In 1789 he laid off Cincinnati. His last 

4 



50 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



active military service was at St. Clair's defeat ; though as late as 1812 
he took charge of the transportation of supplies to Harrison's army. 
He had meantime been promoted to a Colonelcy, and had filled various 
civil posts. In 1803 he located in the hamlet of Dayton, where he spent 
the remainder of his life, dying in 1827. He was as amiably and sincerely 
Christian in character as he was bold and energetic. He died at last 
from the effects of the tomahawk wound received fifty years before. 



Note G. 

The death of Simon Girty at the battle of the Thames, in front of Col. 
Johnson's mounted Kentucky regiment, is stated on the authority of Per- 
kins (Western Annals, pages 170 and 171, note). The same account is 
given by Judge Campbell, whose opportunities for personal knowledge 
were peculiarly good. (See his Biographical Sketches, 147: Columbus, 
Ohio, 1838). Girty's reputation was that of personal honesty. He scru- 
pulously paid all his debts, even to his enemies. He was greatly addicted 
to drink, and when intoxicated " he had no compassion in his heart." He 
suffered greatly from rheumatism, and went on his last campaign, as he 
said, in the hope that he might die in battle. 



Note H. 

Among the papers of Col. Robert Patterson, there has recently been 
found an account, in his own handwriting, of the battle of the Blue Licks, 
and of Aaron Reynolds' brave act of friendship. 

His grandson, Mr. John H. Patterson, of Dayton, Ohio, has kindly 
furnished me the following copy : 

" In the year 1782 the north side of Kentucky was in one county, called 
"Fayette. Five stations or forts included all of the inhabitants: Lexing- 
" ton, McConnell's, Bryant's, Boone's, and McGee's. The subscriber, then 
••being a military Captain, on the first of June, 1782, he received the fol- 
" lowing orders from John Todd, Colonel Commandant of the county: 

" ' To Captain Robert Patterson : 

"'Sir: The fourth part of the militia of Fayette county are hereby 
"'ordered on duty, to rendezvous at Lexington on the 10th instant, of 
" 'which you will take command. 

" 'You will have under you one Lieutenant, one Ensign, three Sergeants, 
"'one Commissary, and as much ammunition as can be spared, or you 
" 'may stand in need of; march immediately to the mouth of the Ken- 
" ' tucky river, there to act in conjunction with the commanding officer of 
"' a row boat to be sent by Gen. George Rogers Clark from Louisville. 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



f>l 



1 1 The boat will likely be commanded by a regular officer of as high a 
' 'grade as yourself ; in that case you will report yourself and company to 
' 'him, and be under his command ; but if commanded by a militia Cap- 
' « tain, then you must command. 
" 'I need not advise you to take care of yourself and men, and guard 

* ' against surprise. 

" ' You are to be thirty days on duty, and will be furnished by your 
' 'hunters. The Commissary's receipt will entitle them to pay.' 

" On the loth, as ordered, forty men, including officers, paraded, and 
'next day marched from the commissary with four pounds of ammunition 
' to each man. We had two pack horses that belonged to the commissary. 
'We marched direct to Drenning's Lick, halted, sent two spies, who 
' brought no account of the arrival of the boat. Sent two spies to Louis- 
'ville, who brought information of the day that the boat would arrive. 
'We remained twelve days in the neighborhood of the river, subject to 
' surprise by day and night. 

"The company was divided into five messes, encamped five yards apart. 
' Every movement was made in the same manner, with two sentinels out, 
'one 150 yards to the right, and the other the same distance on the left. 
'We moved once in twenty-four hours one mile, more or less, as ground, 
'water, and timber were convenient. 

"In the camp immediately in my rear the First Sergeant had a very 
'pr<#ane, swearing man. I had borne with him four days and nights, 
'and felt that I must reprove him, and if no amendment took place, to 
' discharge him and send him home. The next opportunity, when he had 
'a crowd about him, and was making his blasphemous sport with oaths 
'and wicked expressions, I stepped into the crowd and observed to him 
'that he was a very wicked, profane man ; that he could not harm any- 
thing or person but himself, and that he was endeavoring to do with all 

* his might ; that the company and myself would thank him to desist ; 
' but on the next day I heard him going on as formerly. I then reproved 
' him severely, but said to him that if he quit his profanity and swearing, 
'that on reaching the boat I would give him a quart of spirits. 

" Four days after that we joined the boat After making a report of 
' my orders and company to Capt. Robert George, who was a regular offi- 
'cer, Aaron Reynolds demanded of me the quart of spirits, as promised. 
' I suggested a doubt as to whether he had complied with his promise or 
•not, and he appealed to the company then on parade, and they pro- 
'nounced in his favor, that they had not heard him swear since he was 
'reproved, as before stated. The spirits were drank. 

" We continued performing duty in concert with the boat commandant 
'until our tour of thirty days expired, which was when we were at the 
'mouth of the Big Bone Landing creek. We were discharged and re- 
' turned home. 



52 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



■'Two days after returning to Lexington, Bryant's Station, six miles 
"east, was attacked and beseiged by 500 British and Indians commanded 
"by Col. Byrd and Simon Girty. After two days and nights' unsuccessful 
" attempt, they withdrew the third night, leaving a number of killed and 
" wounded. 

"Forty men, under Col. Stephen Trigg and Maj Harland, arrived at 
41 Lexington on the Saturday after the retreat This force, with all that 
" could be spared from Fayette, rendezvoused at Bryant's Station early the 
" next morning. 

"Sabbath, August 1 8th , with Col John Todd in command of 144 men, 
"two thirds on horse, balance on foot, proceeded on until about two 
"o'clock we came to where they encamped the night before. After an 
"accurate examination of their camp, the ground occupied, the number 
"of officers, &c, it was concluded that they had three to our one. A 
" council was called, and the conclusion was that they had been unsuc 
"cessful, and were retreating with a number of wounded, and by march- 
" ing that night we, being then on a buffalo road leading to the Blue 
" Licks, would be close on them against daylight, and break them at the 
"first onset. As soon as the enemy would be discovered, the horse in 
" front were to charge within close gunshot, and force them from their 
"first position, the foot to push them from the second ; to march in two 
"lines fifty paces apart, each line to v. heel to the right and left, extend- 
ing the front as wide as possible, so as to prevent being flanked. *4k>ls. 
"Todd and Trigg on the right, Col. Daniel Boone and the writer of this 
" (Capt. Robert Patterson) commanded the left, with two outer spies 150 
"yards advanced in front of each line to give notice to the horse to ad- 
" vance. Our line on the left consisted of seventy men, including the two 
"spies. The night was dark, and the woods being dense, we had to move 
"slow. Two hours before day we got within two miles of the Lick, 
"halted at daybreak, and finding that we must be near the enemy, fell 
"in and continued the line of march. We crossed the river, and contin- 
" ued on about a mile to a thick growth of timber, when spies gave the 
" signal to the horse to charge, which was promptly done in a gallop close 
" to the enemy. The firing commenced on the full, and coming up forced 
"the enemy from their first ground, but the right wing not gaining the 
u timber retreat at the time that the left wing was gaining on the enemy, 
" and before they were observed, were occupying the ground that the right 
"had possession of but a little time before, and would soon have been in 
" our rear. 

"Having a number of our best men and officers killed and wounded, 
" and the enemy continuing firm and fast turning our right, we were 
"ordered to fall back slowly, and return their fire to hold them in check 
"so as to gain and cross the river. By the time we got within one hun- 
" died yards of the bank, and that much below the ford, fifteen of the 
"retreating men, together with the writer, could see no way of escaping, 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



53 



'yet trying and defending ourselves, the enemy being on every side 
' except the river. At this critical moment the before mentioned Aaron 
' Reynolds rode up to me on horseback, and without asking if I would 
'accept he dismounted on the right side, saying get on and make your 
'escape. I mounted and he with others ran into the river and made his 
1 escape with some of the others, while I rode directly to the ford, passing 
' by two Indians who were behind a tree close to the river, and I was the 
' last of our men that did get across the river. 

"I directly fell in with some of our men, and a wounded man on horse- 
' back held on by another who rode behind him, and continued with 
y them some time, directing them the route to take in order to shun the 
' enemy. Thus making towards the road two Indians had got abreast of 
me; the one on horseback dismounted and shot at me at about fifty 
'yards distant, but missed his mark, and I kept on and arrived at home 
'the next day; but Aaron Reynolds had arrived before I did, and 
' related how he had furnished me with his horse on the retreat, but was 
'not credited, and I was considered among the slain; but my arrival con- 
' firmed the story, and I, with all who heard the story, thought it incredible 
' that a man unhurt and well mounted would, without solicitation, calmly 
' dismount and give up his horse. History scarcely furnishes a parallel. 
'At this distant time in looking back I consider it like Aaron Reynolds 
' giving his life to save mine. The first opportunity I had, in the pres- 
' ence of others, I asked him what was his motive in giving up his horse. 
' His answer was then, and he repeated the same to others afterwards, 
' that from the time that I reproved him for swearing he felt a singular 
'and continued attachment for me As to making my escape, in the 
' most favorable situation of an active body it would have been very 
•doubtful; while I, having been some years before severely wounded, 
' rendered me still more unable to have made my escape ; and I look 
' upon it as certain that but for the above interposition of Divine mercy 

• the bones that are now writing this narrative would have lain among 
'stones that cover the earth on the bare hill about the Blue Licks, with 

• those of many more who never were buried, among whom were Cols. 
'John Todd and Stephen Trigg, Major Cyrus Harland and Joseph 
' Lindsay. It was ten clays before a sufficient number of men could be col- 
' lected to bury the dead, and by that time there were none of their friends 
'that could recognize them, for their bones were scattered for a mile 
1 around. They were gathered and thrown together promiscuously, and 

• covered with stones and old logs, as was the manner of burying in those 
' times on such occasions. 

"Thus of the 144 men, including officers, who crossed Licking river at 
'8 o'clock, Monday morning, August 19, 1782, men who were as well 
'qualified from experience to face the Indians as ever were collected,, 
'only 75, including 7 wounded, recrossed the river at 10 o'clock. 



54 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE 



"Aaron Reynolds having safely recrossed the river, sat down on a 
"log to adjust his moccasins, and being thus hastily and busily engaged 
" with his head down, before he had any notice of their approach two 
"Indians had fast hold of him, and taking his rifle from him one held 
"him while the other went after another man who was then in view, but 
"trying to escape. Reynolds, seeing the frizen of the Indian's gun up, 
"supposed that it was not loaded; he sprang from his grasp and made 
"his escape. 

"The effects of reproof forswearing, and his narrow escape , brought 
"him to serious reflection, which terminated in his making a religious 
"profession, and uniting with a Baptist Church. In this situation he 
"and his family were, when I last heard from him, in the lower end of 
"Kentucky. For a reward Reynolds got a horse and saddle equipment, 
"and one hundred acres of first-rate pre-emption land; which was the 
"first land that he ever owned." 



Note I. 

Mr. Collins has collected the following names of those certainly 
known to have been killed at the battle of the Blue Licks : Colonel John 
Todd, Lieutenant Colonel Trigg, Major Silas Harland, Major Edward 
Bulger, Captain William McBride, Captain John Gordon, John Bul- 
ger, Joseph Lindsay, Clough Overton, John Kennedy, James Gra- 
ham, William Stewart, John Wilson, Israel Boone, and Andrew 
McConnel. The names of the others have not been preserved. 



Note K. 

The reader who desires to consult all the accessible accounts of the 
battle of the Blue Licks is referred to Mr. Collins' History of Kentucky, 
under the head of Nicholas county, to Governor Morehead's Boones- 
borough address, and to McClung's "Life of Boone," in his volume of 
"Western Adventures." It is scarcely necessary to say that these author- 
ities have been freely used in the preparation of this paper. The MS. 
account recently discovered in the papers of Colonel Robert Patterson 
is reprinted in another note to this address. 



NOTE L. 

The map appended to this paper is reproduced, by the photo-litho- 
graphic process, from that given in the French translation of " Filson's 
Account of Kentucke." 



BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 



55 



The original edition of Filson's work was published at Wilmington in 
1784, with a certificate under the hands of Daniel Boone, Levi Todd, 
and James Harrod. It also purported to contain a " Map of Ken- 
tucke." 

It is strange that no copy of the edition of 1784 can be found contain- 
ing the map referred to, though very diligent search has been made. I 
have to thank Mr. A. R. Spofforb, Librarian of the Congressional 
Library at Washington, Mr. Lloyd P. Smith, of the Philadelphia Pub- 
lic Library, Mr. James L. Whitney, of the Boston Public Library, Mr. 
Lyman C. Draper, the veteran collector and historical writer, and 
Robert Clarke, Esq., of Cincinnati, for their kindness in searching 
out this matter. 

The better opinion seems to be that Filson did not publish his map 
with his book, but made it public afterwards. It is hardly possible 
otherwise to account for the absence of the map from every known copy 
of the edition of 1784. 

Yet, on the other hand, Reuben T. Durrett, Esq., of Louisville, 
Kentucky, is very positive in his recollection that the map referred to 
was in the copy of Filson which he presented to the Public Library of 
Louisville, Kentucky, and which has since been stolen. 

In 1785, M. Parraud translated Filson's work and published it at 
Paris. With it he gave the map now reproduced, translating the English 
names of streams and localities into equivalent French. 

The map so given is doubtless a fac simile of Filson's. 

Filson was, as is well known, an accomplished surveyor and a good 
draftsman. It was while engaged in the survey of Losantiville, now 
Cincinnati, that he was killed by Indians. 

A glance at the map will show how the settlements were clustered 
between Lexington and Harrodsburg, with Leestown (Frankfort), Boones- 
borough, and Ruddles' Station as outliers. 

The sagacity of GlRTY's incursion and retreat cannot be fully appre- 
ciated without reference to the contemporary map. 









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